Report: RGGI resulting in emissions reductions, lower electricity costs

A REPORT examining the effects of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a coalition of Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, including Rhode Island, shows participating states are outpacing other parts of the country for both emissions reduction and declining electricity prices. 
Acadia Center, a nonprofit advocate of low-carbon energy, released the report.
A REPORT examining the effects of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a coalition of Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, including Rhode Island, shows participating states are outpacing other parts of the country for both emissions reduction and declining electricity prices. Acadia Center, a nonprofit advocate of low-carbon energy, released the report.

(Updated 3:22 p.m.)
BOSTON – A new report examining the effects of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a coalition of Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, including Rhode Island, shows participating states are outpacing other parts of the country for both emissions reduction and declining electricity prices.
Acadia Center, a nonprofit advocate of low-carbon energy, released the report, showing the region has realized a reduction in carbon emissions in each of the last five years, and is down 37 percent since the program launched in 2009. The coalition, known better as RGGI, is a mandatory cap-and-trade market comprising nine states, including all of the New England states, Delaware, Maryland and New York.
The report says emissions of carbon dioxide fell 6.3 percent below the RGGI cap in 2015. Electricity prices for the states on average have decreased 3.4 percent since RGGI took effect, while electricity prices in other states have increased on average by 7.2 percent, according to the report.

However, rates in New York and New England – with the exception of Maine – are among the highest in the nation and exceed the U.S. average retail price of 10.4 cents per kilowatt hour, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. As of May 2016, the average price of electricity for all Rhode Island users totaled 16.6 cents per kilowatt hours, according to the organization.
The Acadia Center report goes on to detail how electric-sector trends responsible for low emissions – including increasing renewable energy generation and natural gas, while growing investments in energy efficiency – “show no signs of reversing.”
“The experience of the RGGI states shows that we can reduce emissions while benefiting consumers and boosting economic growth,” said Daniel L. Sosland, Acadia Center president, in a statement.
Rhode Island, which is poised to become the first state with an operational offshore wind farm, has seen strong growth in the renewable energy sector, but is still greatly overshadowed by consumers’ high demand for cheap natural gas.
A controversial natural-gas power plant proposed to be built in Burrillville is currently under consideration by state regulators.
RGGI member states are currently working on determining its 2016 Program Review to map out how the states will continue to use the model to reduce emissions and meet state and federal requirements, according to the report. The report also says RGGI has reduced emissions by 16 percent more than other states and seen 3.6 percent more economic growth since the program launched.
“States within RGGI have done better since the program’s launch than states that have yet to act,” said Peter Shattuck, director of Acadia Center’s Clean Energy Initiative. “As more states consider how to reduce climate pollution, RGGI’s precedent is an important example of how market-based programs deliver real benefits.”
The full report can be found HERE.

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